The Harmony Unleashed Animated Saga: Equine Stars of the Zodiac
The Harmony Unleashed Animated Saga: Equine Stars of the Zodiac (aka Harmony Unleashed Equus Sentai THE ANIMATION: Zodiac Horse Stars in Japan, ハーモニー・アンリーシュド エクウス戦隊 ザ・アニメーション: ゾディ馬つ星, Hāmonī anrīshudoekuusu sentai za animēshon: Zodi-batsu hoshi) is a planned and upcoming anime OVA series based on My Little Pony and the Harmony Unleashed series, which it is an animated tie-in of the Harmony Unleashed Cinematic & Television Universe. The anime series is produced by Toei Animation and Ivannimation Samurai Studios, while MAPPA is fully in charge of the animations to avoid visual controversy, since Toei gets criticism for the animation. It will begin its airing in Bandai Channel and NicoNico in Japan, and AM-Stream, Crunchyroll and Netflix internationally, starting with Part 1 releasing in May 2016. Internationally, the series is distributed by Hollowfox Entertainment and Hasbro Studios with an english dub produced by Hollowfox and Bang Zoom! Studios. With Hasbro and Hollowfox, Lionsgate Home Entertainment and Manga Entertainment licenses the home video rights to the anime in the United States and the United Kingdom (due to Lionsgate's buyout of Manga's parent company Starz) and Madman Entertainment licenses it in Australasia. About the Show Hollowfox Entertainment, Bandai Visual, Hasbro Studios and Toei greenlighted an animated ONA miniseries based on the main series of the Harmony Unleashed franchise. Hiroyuki Kakudo (Digimon Adventure, Transformers: Cybertron) is set as director with scripts from Natsuko Takahashi (Sengoku Basara: End of Judgement, Yatterman '08), character designs by Takayuki Shimura (Doraemon) adapting Akira Amano (Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, Psycho-Pass) and Akira Himekawa's (Legend of Zelda manga, My Little Pony manga) character concept designs and Kazuto Nakazawa (Terror in Resonance) acting as chief animation director alongside Shimura, music by Hiroyuki Sawano (Kill la Kill/HU films), Yuki Kajiura (Madoka Magica/HU films), Ken Arai (Parasyte -the maxim-), Hideyuki Fukasawa (Street Fighter IV, Fate/stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works) and Tetsuya Komuro (Punchline) with film series composer Jamie Christopherson producing the music. Aaron Montalvo will be the executive producer and concept supervisor alongside Koichi Sakamoto, which he will be the chief director (Making the second time a live-action filmmaker becomes chief director of an anime, the first time being Katsuyuki Motohiro in Psycho-Pass). MAPPA will be the flagship animation studio cooperating with Ivannimation Studios and Toei Animation, to avoid controversy towards animation budgets towards Toei. Montalvo said that the anime is a mashup of the Guardians of Equestria and the Human spin-offs. The writing will include references to the live-action movies and also breaks the fourth wall. Hollowfox Digital Media and Hasbro Studios will license the series for an english dub at Bang Zoom! Entertainment with Tara Strong and Aaron Montalvo reprising their roles as Aaron and Twilight Sparkle and is set to release on AM-Stream, Hulu, Netflix, Crunchyroll, Crackle and Daisuki. The anime series will tie-in to the Harmony Unleashed Cinematic and Television Universe. Wes Gleason (Vixen, JL Gods and Monsters Chronicles) and Kristi Reed are set to be the English Dub's voice directors. Premise During the events of Guardians of Equestria, The Spirit Brony Organization witnessed the ponyscopes arriving out of nowhere, as Aaron, Twilight and the gang were expecting more room for the ponies for the Horoscope scenario involving their lives related with their zodiac sign. However, something arrives as a fact to get rid of everyone's zodiacal signs. This led Aaron and the rest to vow themselves into protecting them for the sake of their zodiacal signs. Cast Episodes There will be 13 episodes that will tie in to the film series and the TV shows; Guardians of Equestria, Pegasister Rangers and Rondo of Humanity. However, the first 8 episodes will be separated in two parts of 4 episodes, while the last part is consisted of 5. The series will start its release starting with Part 1 in May 2016, Part 2 in August 2016 and Part 3 in December of 2016, streamed through AM-Stream, Netflix and Crunchyroll. The home video rights is licensed through Lionsgate Home Entertainment in North America and the United Kingdom in association with Manga Entertainment (as owned by Lionsgate's Starz) for a Spring 2017 release on home video, while Madman releases the anime on Home video in Australia Natsuko Takahashi is set as story editor and head writer alongside Dai Sato, which he will be the assistant story editor and writer. Music *Music Producer: Jamie Christopherson *Composed by: Hiroyuki Sawano, Hideyuki Fukasawa, Ken Arai, Tetsuya Komuro, Yuki Kajiura *Music Production: Sony Music Entertainment, Aniplex, Toei Animation Music Publishing Crew Sequels Film: Jersey/Everfree Project Aaron Montalvo and Lionsgate Animation EVP Ken Katsumoto announced that an animated film set in the same universe as the live-action films and TV shows is in development at MAPPA, Trigger and Toei Animation. Shingo Natsume (Space Dandy, One-Punch Man) acts as director with Masashi Sogo (Fairy Tail, Bleach), Dai Sato (Eureka Seven, Tekken Blood Vengeance) and Kenta Fukasaku (Battle Royale II, Blade) writing the screenplay, adapting a story by Aaron Montalvo, Dave Polsky, Adam McKay, Steven Shibuya, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. Akira Amano (Reborn!, Psycho-Pass) and Akira Himekawa (MLP & Legend of Zelda manga) are designing the characters with Kazuto Nakazawa and Natsume set for animation direction and character design alongside Takayuki Shimura. In the English Dub, Bang Zoom! and Ocean Productions are working together as the cast from Friendship Is Magic, Equestria Girls and the 2017 movie will reprise their roles for the movie due to consistency with the roles. Humanitarian Fate A second anime series has been announced at San Diego Comic Con 2017 for an all-human animated miniseries focusing on the humanized MLP characters from this universe. Series is directed by Go Koga (Glitter Force Doki Doki, Digimon Universe: Appli Monsters) as series director, Kotomi Deai (The Rolling Girls) as chief director and Masahiko Otsuka (When Supernatural Battles Become Commonplace, Kill la Kill) as collaborative director. Hiroyuki Yoshino will be in charge of the scripts from a story by Aaron Montalvo, Dave Polsky and Adam McKay, with Yusuke Yoshigaki as character designer and animation director adapting from Akira Amano's character concept design. Aaron Montalvo is involved as chief executive producer, as well as Alex Kurtzman, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. Koichi Sakamoto is also an executive producer, planning supervisor and action supervisor alongside Akira Amemiya. Studio Trigger will animate the series with production cooperation with Toei Animation. It will be released on Netflix and AM-Stream in November 2017.Category:Anime Series Category:Spin-offs Category:Harmony Unleashed Category:Main Series Category:OVA Series